Kayak analogy

I haven't heard it mentioned recently but I have heard people drawing a parallel between swimming and paddling a kayak. In the YouTube- Alexander Popov swimming technique the narrator talks about a rigid transfer through the back of forces from one hand to the other (starting at about the 30s mark). This seems to me to be similar to the way one paddles a kayak, which involves a similar rolling of the shoulders with the majority of force coming from core muscles rather than the shoulder muscles. This explanation makes more sense to me than the explanation that some people give for how the roll generates power that involve potential energy in the elevated recovering arm. It also provides a more direct justification for the advantage of swimming with a roll than reducing drag forces. When I'm swimming it feels to me like I am doing this and that the arm recovery is not just a way to get the arm from the back to the front. I find that timing the recovery so that I can do this makes a huge difference in the pulling arm, and in timing the roll so that the pulling arm bends for a shallower pull and in more of a straight back direction. It also helps explain the advantage of front quadrant timing in that the timing of a "kayak" stroke is a front quadrant timing. I should note that the analogy doesn't hold entirely in that the recovering arm will move faster than the pulling arm, again leading to front quadrant timing. Finally, it gives an explanation for the benefit of arm/shoulder extension at the front of the stroke that I find more satisfying than saying that you add an extra inch or two to the length of your pull. I am curious as to whether other people have the same feel of a kayaking motion?